the worst earthquake in a century rocks japan. a voluntary evacuation is in place. we'll have more from pacific ca coming up. >> the san francisco police department has closed part of ag the public to stay away from that area. >> and the great grandparents of a bay area man believed they would be reliving an event.

welcome, i'm dave clark. >> i'm tori campbell. we're following a tsunami. it's moving as fast as a jetliner. a 23-foot tsunami was triggered by that massive 8.9 magnitude quake. a smaller one hit hawaii two hours ago. there's a tsunami warning along the pacific coast, including the bay area where it is expected to hit at 8:08. 300 bodies have been down in the coastal city of san die. 349 are missing. >> this ca trass trophy in japan is having a warning on us in the bay area. a tsunami warning has been

issued for the entire area. we have team coverage. we go to sfo where a flight from japan is scheduled to and shortly. first, let's go to ktvu's jade hernandez in pacifica. you have information about the schools. >> reporter: pacifica schools have been shut down. this road has been shut down for several hours. you can see where caution tape has been strung along the railings. authorities want to make sure no one walks by the area. we just learned, pacifica schools have been shut down. the department is assessing whether to issue a mandatory

evacuation. waves are expected to crest no higher than four feet. we have learned a voluntary evacuation is in place for what's call the tsunami inundation zone. beaches along the coast and from lynn de mar in pacifica and it is expected between 7:30 and 8:00. that's about a half hour from now, so evacuation points have already been established. they've been established in pacifica at ocean antic and terra nova. that's where the red cross has set up. >> we set up our shelters at oceana high school. had units requested from outside jurisdictions. they've been employed in the inundation areas.

>> reporter: we have a crew enroute to ocean anna high school. the tsunami warning was issued 45 minutes past midnight. we're waiting to hear from bart whether the tsunami warning will affect bart. they told us earlier that the service between oakland and bailey city stations could be canceled. that's because those trains run underground and underwater. we'll check in with tara. we're also keeping an eye on chopper 2. cars backed up snaking along the roads. this is skyline boulevard. traffic is jammed as far as you can see. an incredible picture in san

mateo. we'll keep tabs. >> looks like some of the cars have moved up to higher ground. sprurks jap -- of course japanese-americans are keeping an eye on it. kraig debro has more. >> reporter: from what i've learned trying to get ahold of my-in-laws, some of the and lines are down or people are being told to stay off of them. we've been monitoring japanese tv. we're getting pictures that we normally wouldn't get because of the way the feeds work, but this is live tv in jay pafnlt the al. next is the west coast of the

continental united states. we're expecting small waves. damage from the earthquake in japan is widespread. this natural gas storage facility is 250 miles from sen day. it's not clear if some of the casualties came from the other parts of the land of the rising sun. we spoke with a man from san francisco. he has relatives in helo, hawaii. he said they survived back after world war ii. >> my great grandparents live on helo. they survived back in the early 1900's. they've seen this before. we're very concerned about them, just waiting to hear back from

them. >> reporter: we're not hearing any damage out of hawaii but we did see one of the national tv shows that water receded from beaches there. apparently, that has not caused any damage or harm. here in japan town we're waiting to get ahold of the people who work in that area, a lot larger before world war ii but there's quite a big business community. just walked through the mall. that is closed down. not a soul in there. we'll hang out longer to see if we can talk to people who have relatives in japan who have gotten through. kraig debro reporting. >> thank you, kraig. now at this hour hawaii is getting hit by tsunami waves after last night's big quake in japan. that was the scene last night in honolulu has police went around

warning the public about evacuation orders put in place before the waves started hitting the state. as we said, those waves have arrived. initial reports say they were six feet high in maui, three feet high in owe what you and guests near the shore were told to head to upper level floors as precaution. scientists have cautioned, the waves will continue throughout the morning and they could get larger. at sfo a delta airlines flight that took off from to exyow just before the -- tokyo is land. >> reporter: the flight is due here at 7:09, but that clan change. we don't know if the passengers

felt the earthquake. today's united and a&a flights from tokyo have been canceled. this has left 13,000 people stranded at the main airport in tokyo, and 10,000 at another. japannal -- totaled 131 flights. so far 700 cancellations in all. the two airports are partially open for departures but no arrivals. even if you were to arrive, ground transportation would be difficult or impossible. now u.s. flights to japan have been canceled or some have been rerouted that left before the earthquake happened. they're being diverted either 164 miles away or owe sock ca,

340 miles away. one flight coming into japan from tokyo was diverted. but, again, ground transportation has to be very difficult. we're waiting for a very large delta jetliner to and but the situation is that if you're going to japan or no someone who is, those plans are likely canceled. at the least they will be delayed. reporting live from sfo. >> all right, tom. this is what it's like in japan after that devastating tsunami. just look at this. you can see no signs of any planes. the terminal flooded except for one run way. this airport is about 150 miles north of tokyo. tokyo's main international airport was briefly shut down.

we're getting word operations are starting to resume there. an incredible update. >> the shots that we saw from kraig that he had streaming live from japanese tv cars on their side, buildings crumbled. waves of mud, really amazing. now there are some impacts here for bay area traffic. so let's check in with tara. we're expecting to hear news from bart soon. >> they will be making a decision on whether or not to halt service within the next 20 minutes. we're waiting until the waves reach crescent city. if they come in lower than expected, then they will not cancel. we'll keep you posted. muni line 18 has been rerouted because of the great highway closure. right now we're going to take a look at san mateo county. this is the view from chopper 2.

quite a few people have driven out from half moon bay. the highway patrol called are asking people not to park on 92. they need to keep this road open in case of an emergency. they're asking you to drive down to ken yata road. you can see the congestion. northbound traffic moving near the airport. we received road that highway 17 out of santa cruz is backed up. here's steve. >> all right. thank you. >> cress sent city is the key. the first wave will be along crescent city. that's at 7:23. we'll nola will the more in the

next 20 minutes. point ray, monitor rain and at the golden gate 8:08. crepes cent city -- crescent city is the key. 7:23 is the key. low tide is a positive. even if you get a two to four foot surge, the net effect would cancel each other out. point ray is two feet. point arena 2.4. wave forecast 3 own 3. with the low tide it may be like a high tide. temperatures 50s and 60s. mostly sunny. looks like a decent day. temperatures cooling off. we're in the 40s, end up with a lot of upper 50s. changes start tomorrow, an

increase in clouds. morning fog. cooler, a little breezy at times. temperatures, though, will be not that warm, cooler than yesterday, upper 50s to low 60s, and that would be a push. tomorrow about the same. night morning fog. sunday looks like a day that we cloud up. tori and dave? >> we'll continue our coverage of the tsunami warning for the west coast and all the details on the damage by the earthquake, including what's happened at their nuclear plant and new pictures of incredible damage as the quake struck in japan. >> we'll also take you live to washington, d.c. you'll hear what president obama is saying.

this is a live look at san mateo county. this is a view of chopper 2, known as sky way drive and highway 92. you can see quite a few people have driven out from half moon bay. the highway patrol did call asking people not to park on highway 92. they say they need to keep this open in case of an emergency, so they are asking folks to drive down to kenyata road and park instead. if we pan over just a little bit, you can see how many cars we are talking about. we've seen people get out.

as a safety precaution, they're asking people not to block off, kenyata road insaid. >> we're still following that 8.9 magnitude quake in japan. look at the people in the background. this is the largest to hit japan in a hundred years. there are reports of widespread damage authorities confirm 200 to 300 people are dead and the numbers are expected to rise. >> we're following the 8.9 magnitude quake and the tsunami. president obama issued a statement saying the u.s. stands ready to help japan.

allison burns is covering it from our washington, d.c. newsroom. we're expecting a news conference in about an hour. >> reporter: we did just learn there will be a delay in that scheduled news conference. we're going to have to wait two hours to hear from president obama. he issued a statement overnight offering the people of japan the deepest condolences from him and the first lady. he said the u.s. stands ready to help. he said the friendship and lay linians between our two nations is unshakeable. as we look at more of the dramatic images, all u.s. service members in japan have been accounted for. there are no reports of u.s. military injuries. the navy's 7th fleet have

recalled personnel to respond. fema is preparing to assist hawaii and other u.s. states and territories. here is a statement the fema administrator posted online this morning. >> it's really important that people who are in areas where tsunami warning have been issued to heed the warnings. again, a massive earthquake hit japan. our thoughts and prayers go out to them. >> reporter: we're going to stay on top of the respoons from d.c. and have the latest. back to you. >> ktvu's team coverage will continue about that quake disaster in japan. it has trippinger add -- triggered a tsunami right here on the west coast. >> it is shutting down beaches and roads. we have team coverage. >> a lot of people heading for

higher ground at half moon bay. we'll explain next. a charming farmhouse. bree: right next to my posh castle! i'm sensing a theme here. well, i am the queen, dear sister.

live pictures from news chopper 2. this is 92 in san mateo county, filled with cars. this is the road out of half moon bay. a lot of people are trying to get to higher ground. some are park cars along the road. it was triggered by japan's 8.9 magnitude quake. some of the beaches are closed as a precaution, but we had to show you these pictures along the road as people moved to higher ground. >> this is video inside cnn's

tokyo newsroom the moment the earthquake hit. you can see things shaking, people crying out. tokyo is 231-miles from the quake's i center. the quake also struck at a depth of six miles. an expert with the usgs says it cause last lot of damage. the strongest after shock measured in 7.4. officials are closing companies and ordering evacuations as the aftershocks continue. thousands are turning to a bay area company to try to

connect with loved ones. overnight mountain view based google launched the people finder page. so far about 7,000 people have submitted their information. that's up from 2,000 a few hours ago. google has launched the person finder page in response to other natural disasters in the past. >> we want to go live to san francisco. san francisco mayor ed lee is talking right now. we'll see what he is saying. there's mayor ed lee of japan. >> over 7.2 aftershock which caused a tsunami wave to hit the northeast sector of japan. assuming it might come across the pacific ocean, through hawaii on to the west coast.

since midnight last night through this morning we've been monitoring, with all of the data information and tsunami for the state of california and the whole west coast. as of today as of 8:08 we expect impact of the tsunami waves to hit the western shores of the united states. having said that, the monitor indicates we will in the san francisco area perhaps receive about a one to two feet increase in our wave. since it's low tide and we've been working with the science and tsunami warning centers, it will only result in a higher wave than usual and not exceed our seawall. we expect that not to happen and we'll continue to monitor it, but in extra precautions that we've taken, we have closed the

highway, the upper highway and lower highway as an added precaution. we've asked our citizens and visitors not to be on ocean beach, just to take that extra precaution. we have not called for an evacuation. we do not believe it's necessary at this time but we have things ready in case the data changes. >> you've been listening live to san francisco mayor ed lee there in san francisco. he is talking, obviously, about the expected tsunami expected to hit sphans at 8-- sphans san francisco at:08 -- 8:08. they're monitoring the situation. >> very minimal effect here. >> i do want to mention this tide hall surge inside the bay is not expected to be as

significant as the coastline. boaters should stay off the waters. the death toll in japan has climbed into the hundreds after the nose powerful japan to hit in more than a century. we'll have continuing coverage. we want to give you a look at the conditions. the waves aren't getting big just yet but this is approaching as we speak and we have reaction from the people. also, the disaster in japan could have a huge impact on bart riders. we'll bring it to you.

welcome back. it's just after 7:30. look at this. the very latest on the earthquake and tsunami that just hit japan. this is brand-new video, the devastation on the ground. a lot of debris, devastation, wreck yak, everywhere. that magnitude 8.9 hit last

night and unleashed a 23-foot tsunami. the death toll keeps going up. 200 to 300 bodies have been found in the coastal city of sendai. 88 others are confirmed dead elsewhere and at least 349 are missing. >> it's having a major impact in the bay area. a tsunami warning has been issued for the entire west coast. emergency crews are shutting down bay hear beaches, roadways, ferry service and schools, ktvu's claudine wong has new information. >> reporter: we want to show you the conditions at four point that's expecting conditions of two to three feet when the tsunami swell comes. the location you cran normally drive in the four point area has

been closed off. they're trying to keep everyone out of there. you look at these waves. we've seen decent swells coming in. we ask is this different from what you normally see. some of them are what you normally see. i want to see if we can pan off to the right. i want to show you. people want to see what a tsunami can bring. obviously, you heard the mayor of san francisco say they want everyone to stay back because they are concerned about people's safety. i want to show you video as well. this is what it looks like. let me show you what it looked like in the last half hour at aquatic park. the waves are crashing pretty well over there. that's the dolphin swim club. they have a sign up saying the coast guard is advising everyone

to stay out of the weather, whether you're in a boat or want to swim. the swimmers saying we're going to get in anyway. we spoke to folks hop want to swim from alcatraz to the pier and they were told they couldn't do it. >> they told us don't go. >> reporter: who, coast guard. >> coast guard, on the radio. >> the tsunami warning. >> reporter: they decided -- >> they decided to close everything down. they canceled all oil transfers. >> reporter: they decided to close aquatic beach. the sign says biohazard. there's no biohazard, but they had no other sign to let people know they shouldn't be on the beach. they wanted to be careful, so they closed it. >> we're just going to close this to keep people off the

beach. >> reporter: for how long. >> relatively common sense until probably 8:30, 9:00. >> reporter: back live out here you're taking a look at the water near four point. the swell is expected to be two to three feet when the tsunami swell comes in. lots of people standing by watching the situation. 8:08 is the time we're getting. the park service is saying we'll shut things down until 8:30 or 9. they're less concerned about the swimmers in aquatic park than people who come along the water who could get pushed in or washed in. there are several beaches along the san francisco coastline that are shut down. they say go ahead and watch it on tv but stay away from the water. live in san francisco, claudine wong, ktvu 2 news.

we want to bring you live pictures of cars parked at skyline boulevard at highways 92 and 35. this is in san mateo. a lot of people left the coast hear around half moon bay and drove up to skyline boulevard and parked their cars along the side of the road to get away from the possible tsunami. chp says don't do this. they want the people to keep heading east. they can park near kenyatta road. they want to keep the road clear. you can see all the cars parked along the road there land curling into some of the areas off of the road. we'll bring you more details and more impact on traffic caused by these tsunami warnings. we're still awaiting word from bart. we'll have more coming up

shortly. back to japan, japanese authorities ordered the evacuation of thousands of residents living near a nuclear power plant because the quake damaged the cooling system. they said if the outage continues, evengesly radiation could leak out. in the worst case it could cause a meltdown of the nuclear reactor. others have been safely shut down as a precaution. this, of course, is having a major impact on japan as a whole since they get a third of their energy from nuclear plants. one of the largest fires was at a japanese oil refinery. this burned 25 miles east of tokyo. they clan hold as much as 220,000 barrels of oil.

the japanese quake and tsunami that follows continues. it's a topic on twitter. some of the users are posting pictures of the damage. you can seat tokyo background and in the background a huge plume of smoke. this shows the tip of the tower. it's befnlt it was inspired in part by the eiffel tower in paris and more than 1,000 feet tall. look at all the people sitting on the ground at tokyo disneyland. there were almost 70,000 people inside the disney and park at the time of the quake but no one was hurt. >> this area is known for earthquakes, but there's so much structural awareness of that so a lot of the buildings are done

to eliminate as much damage as possible. one other thing i want to mention -- this is a big quake but not the largest one in history. president largest quake was in chile in 1960. it was a 9.5, so this still big, the fifth strongest since 1900. but the strongest, 1960 in chile at 9.5. >> let's check in with tara. many, many things happening as people try to move away from the coast to high irground. >> reporter: we have information from the santa cruz police department. they have closed the boardwalk in santa cruz and some of the surrounding roads. they are strongly advising residents to evacuate. 92 out of half moon bay backed

up. we are expected to hear from bart. they're waiting until the waves hit crescent city and they will make a decision whether top cancer -- to cancel service. here is a live look at san mateo county. this is the view from chopper 2 above highway 35, skyline drive and highway 92. quite a few people have driven out from half moon bai. the highway patrol is asking people not to park on 92. they say they need to keep it open. they're asking you to drive down to kenyatta road. you're looking at a 10-minute wait. here's steve. >> the weather looks nice. there's more low clouds in the north bay. it will be a mostly sunny day

but slightly cooler. we do have a timeline. crescent city was the key. i haven't heard anything. point arena 7:26. point ray right now. san francisco 8:08. crescent city, that was the first arrival time. it will probably be a net effect. any wave, two to four feet. may not notice it at all. some of the ones santa cruz 3.6. temperatures will be in the 50s and 60s. we have the low clouds. after that increasing clouds tomorrow. 40s right now, a little chill, low 40s, mid-40s to upper 40s. overall we're good to go. increasing clouds and a fog

pattern and rain on sunday. today get out and enjoy it. it should be cooler. some of that fog could take awhile, a little stubborn to burn off. about the same on saturday, cloudy on sunday. it does look like we'll get some rain. the strongest earthquake in a century rocks japan. hundreds are dead and a big tsunami followed that devastating quake. emergency crews are shutting down beaches and roadways. steve just told us it could hit this area in the next 20 minutes. we'll continue our team coverage here on mornings on 2.

this is a live picture from pacifica this morning. a tsunami warning on the entire west coast of the united states following the 8.9 magnitude quake. schools are closed in pacifica as a precaution. the waves were supposed to hit farther north in california in crescent city about 20 minutes ago. the first waves are hitting now on the coast, but since it is low tide the waves are supposed to go up to a level of high tide, so limited damage is expected. this is the second time in a little over a year that hawaii and the u.s. west coast are threatening a quack. the worst was in chile.

we have people monitoring the situation. we'll take you back to sfo and tom just received new information about a plane from tokyo that was expected to and there this morning. >> reporter: according to the airport, the plane may have never left or was diverted back to japan because delta shows it as canceled. also, today's united and a&a flights from tokyo were canceled because they happened after the earthquake. this left 13,000 stranded at narita and 10,000 at paneta airport. so far 700 flights have been canceled in japan. the two are open for departure,

no arrivals because ground transportation would be difficulty and emergency service would take precedence. the u.s. flights to japan have be reroitd nagya. or osaka. to show you how low the tide is, you can see the mud flaps that normally don't exist. the reason, the tide is so low. if there were to be a big wave that would be an advantage. the point here is very confusing situation. we'll know more about this later in the day and we'll report that to you. reporting live, ktvu channel 2 news. evacuations have not been ordered in san francisco, but emergency crews are keeping a close eye on the water due to concerns about the tsunami.

we are getting word from the associated press, the first wavesle have reached -- waves have reached the coast. mayor ed lee just spoke about the city's emergency response. >> reporter: he gave us an update a few minutes ago. he's inside the department of emergency management meeting with a number of departments. police, park service, port officials. they are meeting inside, assessing the situation along the coast. a lot of many people have been here since midnight monitoring. they were expecting this to hit the west coast. right now the mayor indicated to us that he expects san francisco will see waves about a one to

two foot increase. this is low tide here. at this point there is hop thy mix about how this will affect san francisco. they are still keeping precautions. they have a number of extra police out in neighborhoods along the ocean beach area. they have sirens by the ready as well in case anything would change. they're asking the public to re main calm. the mayor says he feels confident. he indicated he will be talking to the con sum general -- consul general from japan, asking if sphans could aid the nation. he said they will ask the consul general to report what may be needed as far has aid. but right now the mayor

indicated they will continue to monitor the situation. they'll take conference calls with other centers around the state to assess the situation. for now the mayor indicated that he is optimistic that san francisco will be fine. tori, back to you. >> the associated press has announced the first waves of the tsunami after the japanese quake hit the u.s. it hit in port orford, oregon, north of crescent city. it's a little bit of an hear of the coastline that juts out to the west. we have no word on the sides of -- size of the wave, but this is low tide. >> the u.s. geological survey will be holding a news conference at 9 a.m. >> so still a lot going on. also, we want to let you know the situation in japan that's

gets worse every hour, that devastating japan rocking japan, triggering a huge tsunami. >> we're waiting for a big announcement from bart. it is tide to that disaster overseas. 't hu. and our perfect dream factory's been built. i'm feeling sleepy already. nighty night.

in the capital city of tokyo parliament was in session when the earthquake hit. japan's prime minister said the government is working to assess the damage. he said troops are being sent to the most devastated area of the country. police say train stations and some airports are closed indefinitely. that's leaving many, many people stranded. let's bring you up to date on some of the other top stories we're following. president obama, in just about

two hours, will be having a news conference. he will be talking quake devastation in jay pan. he will also be talking about the continuing crisis in libya. the saudi arabian government cracking down on protests in their capital city. hundreds of police officers stopped demonstrators from protesting in the streets. they were calling for democratic reforms. looking at wall street, stocks are mixed this morning. investors trying to predict the economic fallout from that huge earthquake in japan. stocks have fluctuated. they're mostly lower in the united states. right now stocks are down about a quarter of a percent. we have a lot of information to pass along to you about traffic, a lot of precautionary measures being taken.

let's check in with tara for an update. >> reporter: the boardwalk and wharf are shut down. the highway out of santa cruz is backed up. they are gauging the waves in oregon and then will make a decision whether to cancel bart service. also, some news from muni to pass along, 18, line 18 has been rerouted because of the great highway closure in san francisco. right now we're taking a live look at san mateo county. chopper 2 showing dozens of cars. you can see how many folks have driven out from half moon bay seeking higher ground. chp is asking people not to park on 92. they need to keep this open in case of an emergency, so they're asking you to drive down to yen

-- kenyatta road. traffic has been sluggish on 880 as you drive north towards santa clara. our team coverage continues on the quake disaster in japan. the death toll has climbed into the hundreds and the news could get much worse. >> emergency officials shutting down bay area beaches and roadways. the tsunami could hit the bay area at any moment. >> that tsunami could cause a major disruption in bart service shortly. that decision is expected within the next few minutes. stay with us on mornings on 2.

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completing an atm deposit in record time... that's a step forward. go! go! with deposit friendly atms, you can make ultra fast, secure deposits with no slips or envelopes. take a step forward and chase what matters. we have team coverage of a major impact here in the bay area. i'm jade hernandez. a voluntary evacuation is underway. >> bart is considering helping

service due to the threat. part of the great highway is closed down and they're asking the public to stay away. ex-patriots worry about relatives they cannot reach. good morning. welcome back. i'm tori campbell. >> i'm dave clark. it's friday, march 11th. we're following the tsunami. it's traveling at 500 miles an hour, the speed of a jetliner. it swept across northern japan immediately after that 8.9 magnitude quake hit there. tsunami waves from three to seven fit swam -- swamped hawaii beaches. a lot of the hotels had their

guests go to upper floors. right now there is a tsunami warning along the pacific coast of the united states. waves have already hit at port ore ford in oregon and they're expecting waves of six feet in crescent city. five foot at the allusion islands in alaska. the weather weather say -- the national weather service said the water level is dropping at half moon bay. the water gets sucked out first and then the waves move in. also, the death toll in japan keeps climbing. 200 to 300 bodies have been bound in the coastal city of sendai. elsewhere 88 are confirmed

missing. a toeses to will hit our area in a couple of minutes. kraig debro is in san francisco's japan down. claudine wong is at four point. first, let's go to jade hernandez standing by in pacifica. >> reporter: good morning. all eyes are on the water. residents, neighbors, watching and waiting. emergency responders are prepared. one bay area resident drove from san bruno to pacifica. >> i read about the earthquake in japan and saw we might get residual effects out here. i thought i would come down to see if there's anyway i could help. >> reporter: we've been checking in with pacifica police. a volunteer evacuation is still in place at this hour for the tsunami inundation zone west of highway one and in the del mar

in pacifica, el granada and half moon bay. no mandatory evacuations have been issued. waves are expected to crest at no more than four feet, maybe two feet. our crews caught this video just about an hour ago. classes have been canceled at all pacifica schools. we spoke to oceana's vice principal. >> we want to make sure there are no students here. >> we want special areas where people will register. we'll have food, snacks, drinks. we have a children's play area. we have a health area and a handicap area. we're getting all the cots set up. >> the national weather service issued the tsunami warning at

12:45 this morning. we checked in with the captain with pacifica police. he said in the last hour they are monitoring the situation checking to make sure they don't have to call a mandatory evacuation. as you heard from the red cross they are prepared and represented just in case law enforcement agencies do have to do so. reporting live in pacifica, jade hernandez. >> thank you. the tsunami is supposed to hit san francisco in just a few minutes. ktvu's claudine wong has been monitoring the situation. claudine, what are things like right now? >> reporter: there's a crowd growing near four point. you can see the waves cresting. what you won't notice are any people. that's because they blocked all access to the area. that is an hear that get last lot of waves. surfers like to go out. i talked to the park sssments i

said can -- service. i said can we get back there. they want to keep everyone back. a lot of people with their cameras. a gentleman set up a video camera to watch the waves. everyone wanting to see what a tsunami could bring to the area. we also checked in over at aquatic park. we found people who were going into the water, taking a swim early this morning even though they knew the tsunami warning was in effect. we talked to some boaters. they were told by the coast guard they couldn't go out. we saw the park service putting up signs, letting people know they're supposed to stay away from the area. we come back out live to the area where we're at near four point. you can see sur fers standing by the surfers said they considered going into the water. they just didn't know.

we took a look at the waves and saw this wasn't big enough for us to go out. certainly, they may have been stopped by the park service. so we will keep an eye on the situation here. if we see anything, we'll let you know. for now, it seems to be status quo. any minute we expect that could change. >> thank you. in any minute we should hear from bart officials on whether the bart commute will be affected by the tsunami warning. service between oakland and daly city could be canceled. that's because the trains run under water. we got to show you this, chopper 2 flying live over san mateo county. cars have moved inland from the coast trying to get to higher ground. they're just packing the area around highway 35 and highway 92 in san mateo county.

they're jamming parking and making it difficult for emergency vehicles and other traffic to move through the hear. emergency officials are begging people don't do this. don't park up there. you can see for your self-as news chopper 2 pans around, there are a lot of cars up there and all because of the tsunami warning along our california coast. >> an unexpected situation. our newschopper 2 has been following it. we want to keep an eye on the rest of the traffic. so far we haven't seen too many delays. >> if bart were to shut down that would cripple the commute. doesn't look like that will happen. we received a message from the santa clara valley transportation service. they said all bus and light service not lay rested. fer prief service out of vallejo has been put on hold. a bus shuttle is being offered

instead. let's look at our maps. we have a vehicle fire at castle wood drive, also very slow going on 84 in both directions. all right. let's take a look at 880 near the oakland coliseum. give yourself extra time. at the bay bridge toll plaza it's been hit or miss. the metering lights are on but everything is moving smoothly. >> if anything's going to happen, it should be right now, 8:08 at the golden gate, of a moon bay, they can get high waves. i haven't heard anything from crescent city or shelter cove. things are quiet. it's a low tide so any effect of a two, four, five foot wave

might cancel things out. 8:08 at the golden gate. low tides 0.7 feet. some of the waves point pray 2. pacifica 3. santa cruz 3.6. it's a low tide. as far as our weather is concerned, 40s on the temperatures. we'll end up with low 50s. we'll see temperatures that will continue to be upper 50s or low 60s as that system moves off. that means morning fog mainly in the north bay. so it will be cooler today even though it will be mostly sunny, breezy, highs upper 50s and low 60s. the five-day looks to be the same and rain should start to move back. now, tori and dave. the moment of truth has arrived in the bay area. a tsunami is expected to hit the

san francisco area at this moment. the waves, though, are only expected to be a few feet in height. as steve mentioned it is low tide right now but dissass ter official -- disaster officials said they can't afford to take chances. we have reporters at san francisco -- at four point as we zoom in under the golden gate. a picture from pacifica. waves coming. we heard the water level was dropping at half moon bay, which indicates the water was being sucked out, indicating the energy from the tsunami that came in. a couple hours ago there were some avenues that hit ha -- waves that hit hawaii, sfn meet in maui. it was about 2:00, 3:00 in the morning and a lot of guests were

told to go to the higher levels in the hotels along the shore. three to seven foot waves in hawaii a couple hours ago. we are expecting one to two feet waves. the first waves to hit the u.s. were up in port oreford, oregon. we're expect five to six feet but no major damage. it is low tide. that has been a big saving grace for the western coast of the united states. we are continuing to monitor this, obviously, as we look at the waves coming in and whether these are tsunami waves, we don't know. we'll wait for the experts to let us know. the u.s. geological survey will have a press conference. we'll continue to monitor this and bring you the latest. >> tara is getting texts from bart. they still haven't made a decision whether they're going to shut down bart trains between

oakland and daly city. they're watching crescent city as the waves are moving in. they're letting us know they are close to a decision. they have not made a decision. it will affect a lot of people and their commute. japanese-americans in the bay area are obviously keeping a watch on the disaster in japan. kraig debro, who has family members in japan, is in japantown right now land trying to reach your -- and trying to reach your family and friends. what do you know? >> i heard from a friend of mine, a foreign editor for the tv network. he told me he can't even get ahold of his mother. here in japan town, this store is like a walgreen's, a discount

store. both have relatives in or near sendai. the until i ber one store -- number one store. what happened in japan is weighing heavily on their mind. the worst fears are on their mind, but they say they will follow the normal routine. >> no contact. so i try again. >> reporter: are you worried? >> yes, but i will be okay. >> worry about our family but i have no idea how i can contact them right now, just waiting, for contact from my family. >> reporter: telephone service in japan is very deaf cult as you just heard. ing about the have not contacted their family.

i have-in-laws who live in itchy cowy city, which is east of tokyo. we have not been able to contact them on a landline. south of there in itchy hara, that's where that big fire is. just to give you pan idea how widespread all the damage is. sendai is at least 250 miles north of where that fire is. even down by the refinery in itchy hara near narita -- again, people having a difficult time getting a hold of relatives in japan, but everybody's thinking about what's happening there. reporting live in sphrarntion -- san francisco, kraig debro. >> as we mentioned, we'll continue to follow the water levels. crescent cities have seen theirs

go up. half mon bay has seen theirs go up. so we are seeing a little bit of change right now. we're going to keep an eye on that and bring you the latest. time now 8:14. we're watching the bay area waters. this is a live picture. the tsunami tied to that quack in japan is -- quake in japan is hitting our area.

the first tsunami waves are being reported at san mateo, half moon bay reports water levels up eight minutes. things are starting to peck up. we want to mention the first waves have hit crepes spent city about 7:30 this morning. they're predicting waves as high as seven fee. bart said if they're above eight feet they would shut down their service. at this point we're hearing crescent city to have waves as high as eight feet. we're still waiting on word from

bart. these are live pictures of waves coming in at four point on the san francisco side just below the golden gate bridge. this is low tide as steve has been saying. we're not exspctsing a -- expecting a significant surge but the warning could stay in effect for a couple hours. >> when it arrives which is 8:0 our time, the projected time, then they can vary from five minutes to an hour. usually, if nothing happens about two hours after that, then they'll probably cancel it. it's not just one wave. it could be two or three land they can come in staggered. so there's still a couple hours to go. >> the reason they can tell if it's a tsunami wave or regular

wave, the bowies -- buoys. >> a megathrust is what happened. that's a tremendous volume of water that has to move. as it does, it comes across. if you're in a ship and it's 600 feet. you're taking that up over a small area. you compact it. it can go hundreds of miles. when it comes on shore, it would be about 45 miles an hour. we're seeing some signs but nothing too dramatic. >> it was a 23-foot in japan. it is low tide all along the west coast. that will minimize damage. with high tide. >> if you had an astronomical high tide the situation would be compounded boy that. >> there are various parts taking precautions. ocean boche, some areas in

marin, santa cruz, boardwalk is closed at least for the time being as experts monitor the situation. >> it's not gist the coast -- just the coast but in the bay. you can did from the san pablo bay. >> there's no specific warning for the bay but boaters and the public are warninged to stay off the bay. obviously, we're not the only ones keeping a close eye on this. president obama is at the white house monitoring the situation in japan and the u.s. west coast. ally son burns is in our washington, d.c. newsroom with a new request. >> reporter: the japanese foreign ministers a officially asked the united states for help as we take a look at the

devastation. the u.s. pacific command reports all service members have been accounted for and there are no reports of u.s. military personnel being injured. the state department said there are 50,000 troops. the navy fleet have called personnel to respond to the quake. there will be a need for a huge humanitarian presence. president obama extended his condolences saying the u.s. stands ready to help the japanese people. he said the friendship and alliance between our two nations is unshakeable as they overcome this tragedy. i've been getting emails from bay area lawmakers, nancy pelosi and barbara lee urging their constituents in the bay area to heed the tsunami warning for

their aft. reporting for ktvu 2 news. president obama was supposed to schedule a news conference about libya, but we just got word in the last hour that he has postponed it until 9:30 our time. we want to show you a live look from newschopper 2. this is the area where christian captain is. >> reporter: i'm right here at -- we're rote next to the bluff everlooking ocean beach. there's about three or four dozen spectators looking to see if they can spot a sign of the tsunami. we've seen the water levels come

up the beach a little bit. big waves, not much bigger than usual but a lot of surf. the unusual thing -- i actually live out here in the richmond district in france. the big thing that's different is how empty the area s as i was trying to get here, i was stopped by the san francisco police right at point lob as. i'm told they're trying to cope as many out. once i came down there were three or four dozen people. not as many as you would expect. a popular beach, there's usually a lot of activity, people jogging, looking at the beach, et cetera. very few people out. lots of media out here. the unusual thing is there are a

couple of people. every once in awhile you'll see one person. i'm looking at one who's standing 33 feet back -- 30 feet back from the surf. right now it doesn't look that dramatic. we've seen the water come up the beach further but not much beyond what you usually expect. >> early calm -- eeriely calm. thanks for that update on the phone, christian. we are getting word that water tide is beginning to rise in cress sent city. we're keeping a close eye on that. that could indicate what kind of waves we get. we have news of more school

closures. pacifica and two schools in marin. it's because of concerns of the tsunami. >> what you're saying about crescent city will depend on what bart says. >> we want to tell you about some of the beach scenes. again, the waves, the water level is starting to rise slightly. in half moon bay, the water level was up about eight inches. i mentioned crescent city seeing water levels going up to approximately seven feet. they have been activated warning sirens. you may recall, it was in 1964 there was a toeses to that hit cress -- tsunami that hit crescent city. it killed 11 people.

so they are aware of the danger. as we're looking at some of the waves coming in, this is low tide. if there is any major tsunami, if there is an impact from this tsunami, it would probably be the equivalent of a high tide. a lot of the coastal areas can get waves 40, 50 feet high. they crest and break. the waves are measured. that's in the -- not the case for the tsunami. it measures from normal sea level. it continues to surge up and move inland. a normal wave will crest and break. >> what about the undertow. >> the tides can play a lot into it. i mean, we may not get anything at all. there are signs it's approaching the coast. we'll see but nothing too dramatic. >> we need top stand by and hear

what the experts say. this is a double shot, pacifica on the right, san francisco on the left. things don't look terribly dramatically in san francisco. this is the second time in a little over a year that we have gotten a threat of a tsunami. there was a magnitude 8.8 in chile in 2010. almost no damage was reported. this was more of a concern, an .9 in japan -- 8.9 that hit in japan about 11 hours heaping. that's how long this takes for it to travel, about 500 miles an hour, quickly, about the speed of a jetliner. they will be coming in at 45 miles an hour into the west coast. >> the death toll in japan, as we've been talking about, now climbed into the hundreds, all of this following the most

powerful quake to hit in a century.

welcome back to mornings on two. we'll show you this. the ground from the quake and tsunami in japan. this is just mouth dropping pictures. debris and wreckage scattered every where. the magnitude 8.9 hit last night

sending waves all the way here. japanese authorities found 200 to 300 bodies already in the coastal city of sendai. 88 others are confirmed dead elsewhere and at least 349 are still missing. here at home emergency crews in the bay area are on wave watch. the tsunami warning is tide to the big earthquake in japan. it could take an hour or two after the arrival for it to peak. jade what do the waves look like right now? >> reporter: i can tell you all eyes are on the water. according to locals here, they seem to be pretty normal. many times when there are storms, these waves can be crashing along the pare even

where weir -- pier even where we're standing. we can tell you ocean boulevard, right where we're live this morning is closed to through traffic. now some drivers have not been abieding tblie -- abiding by that rule. but ocean boulevard is closed. three minutes away at a nearby high school, an evacuation point has been made. an evacuation for the inundation zone west of highway one. most of the beaches along highway one are closed. right now we just saw the coast guard fly by i'm sure they're monitoring the situation as well. the san mateo office of emergency management has been monitoring this just in case a mandatory evacuation had to be

called. there has been a cresting, no more than four feet. right now there's only been that voluntary evacuation. now the national weather service issued it around 12:45. flooding and high waters are associated. we've been out here all morning, residents, curious onlookers have come to watch the waves come into the beach and so far everything has been pretty quiet. again, all emergency responders are prepping, preparing and in case they have to call a mandatory evacuation, they're ready. >> we're keeping an eye on the waters along san francisco. any changes? >> you can see the park service

coming off the pier they've pushed everyone on the pier off. they want it make sure everybody stood back. we've been watching it. we'll show you what this looks like. it's been pretty similar to this kind of picture throughout the morning where we've seen bigger waves. nothing huge but four point is shut down. i'll block the gates. that is an area that gets high crashing waves. i want to pot camera off the -- pop the camera off the tripod. they've been watching the activity on this side. it gives them some indication this is not what normally

happens. for us we're not seeing anything major. this is the swell that's coming through. i know just in the last couple of minutes, the police have come in and said this may be coming. let's be careful. that's the latest. we'll keep you updated. live in san francisco, claudine wong. japanese americans here in the bay area are keeping a close eye on the disaster that's still unfolding. kraig debro has been on it since 4 this morning. you have talked to people with family members in japan. it's difficult to communicate. >> reporter: i heard from a friend of mine who works at a japanese tv network. they've been covering it wall to wall. he's not been able to get ahold of his mother. in japan town we talked to some people who live in or near

sendai. the name of the store is called iwhich i bon can. what's happening weighs heavily on their mind. the worst fears are on the minds of the people here. until they get information, they said they will follow the normal routine. no. no telephone contact. so i try again later. >> reporter: are you worried? >> yes, but i will be okay. >> worry about family, but i have no idea how i can contact them, just waiting for contact from my friends. >> reporter: one of the reasons that woman wasn't as worried, she says her family does not

live near the coast where the water came lay shore. even though she hasn't spoken to any of her family members, she's not as concerned as show would be if her family lived near the coast. damage is widespread. there's a facility -- storage facility for natural gas. that's south of sendai. of course as we wait for the tsunami to hit our shores, the people are concerned about relatives. reporting live in san francisco, kraig debro, ktvu 2 news. even though we haven't seen huge waves, city officials are taking no chances. ktvu's david stevenson is

joining us. david, they've got a plan. >> reporter: about 20 county officials are meeting inside the department of emergency management here in san francisco. they include people from the port authority, the chief of police just walked past. many have been here since mid-night. they are monitoring the aftermath of the quake. so far they tell us they don't expect it to be much. they expect swells of one to two feet during the low tide. that was a reason to be cautiously optimistic. >> we have not called for an evacuation. we have extra police officers out on the areas. we have them staged around the

great highwayer, and we have our sirens. all indications thus far is that is not necessary. i asked public to remain calm. >> reporter: now here's what we know. officials will continue to monitor the situation for the next several hours many they say it's not clear but they will be announcing that at some point later in the day. for now they will monitor the situation. they say they don't expected this to be much. they're using technology to get -- the department, the school district put out a twitter informing people that school will be in session despite the emergency operation and the monitoring that's going on. that's another way that they're getting information throughout the west coast. reporting live in san francisco,

david stevenson. >> he mentioned schools there opened in sphrafnlts -- san francisco. there are some schools closed. two schools are closed in marine. all other marin schools are open. there's an abundance of caution. >> let's go to tara. you're following a commute. there's mass transit things happening. >> we're waiting to hear from bart officials. they said they cannot guarantee service. for now things are running as usual. we are still on standby. some employees here actually took part in this morning. it was empty, but a lot of people waiting to hear. as we take a look at the bridges, here's the san mateo. traffic is light.

it's fine on the other bridges. here's a look. we want to mention that ferry service has been temporarily halted. bus rides are being offered instead. we want to go to our map. we have an accident. there is a sig alert that has been issued for southbound 101 north of span pedro road. we are told there are 100 gallons of termite chemicals that have leaked on to the roadway. cleanup crews are on the scene. there's a lot of backups, so a tow truck is on scene. here's steve. >> thank you. all right. the first waves are a sign of wave arrived about 8:15. just because nothing's happening now doesn't mean the warning won't continue. it will go on a couple hours. so far, nothing too dramatic.

don't pooh, pooh it yet. 40s to low 50s. had low 40s. one system that will give us increasing clouds but today looks good. morning fog, sunny, corm, west wind. a little bit of sun for everyone. it seems it wants to hang out. otherwise wise a gorgeous day. more of the same. increasing clouds. rain will start in the north bay. >> all right. it is 8:43. a tsunami warning. the first wave moved in in the past hour. we're keeping a close eye. the biggest could be an hour and a half after the first wave. we have new information on

the huge quake that prompted the tsunami warning. what scientists are saying about the after shock.

look at this, video of inside tokyo's cnn newsroom. tokyo is about 231 miles from the i center of the quake. look at how that newsroom is rocking. officials are still trying to assess all of the damage to the capital city. president -- the quake hit at a depth of about six miles. the u.s. geological survey said such a big quake at shallow depth create last lot of damage and energy. there's been about 50 yaft ter shocks. most of them have been more of a magnitude 6.0. the biggest at a magnitude 7.4. officials are closing a lot of companies there, ordering evacuations as the aftershocks keep coming. thousands are turning to a bay area company to try to

connect with loved ones. mountain view based google launched the person finder. so far about 7,000 people have submitted their information. that's up from 2,000 a few hours ago. google has launched the page in response to other disasters in the past. if you're out in the water or have interesting pictures, please send them to ktvu. the epicenter of japan's earthquake was 81 miles off the east coast. we have video from an office building in that city the moment the earthquake hit.

following the earthquake the tsunami hit the city port flooding homes. police say at least 200 to 300 bodies have been found in the coastal city and the death toll is expected to rise further. there are reports reason there was so much damage, it was fairly shallow. six miles, maybe 15 miles, but that size of a quake, that large that shallow does an awful lot of damage, still not the biggest recorded in history. that was a 9.5 in chile in 1960. >> we're getting reports that santa cruz is sees damage at the docks. we're trying to confirm that but as waves hit the california coast, some damage may be occurring. as we speak, we'll try to confirm that. japanese authorities ordered the evacuations of thousanded of residents who live near a

nuclear power plant. one official said if that cooling system outage continues there, eventually radiation could like into the environment. the worst case scenario could cause a meltdown. four other nuclear power plants have been safely shut down. this is having major impact since they get a third of their energy from nuclear plants. fires are burning at 80 different locations in japan. one of the largest was at a japanese oil refinery. you're seeing the huge flames in ichi hara city. the tanks can hold has many as 20,000 barrels of oil.

the japanese quake and tsunami is still a topic on twitter and some of the users are showing the damage. this shows the tokyo skyline and that huge plume of spoke. the other, the tip of the iconic tower. it's befnlt it's about 1,000 -- it's bent. it's about 1,000 feet tall. and this is at the tokyo disneyland. as far as we know, none of them was hurt. many bay area school kids are getting the day off due to the disaster in japan. >> also, how it's affecting the world's financial market and why it's bringing oil price down.

the massive earthquake and tsunami in japan has left hundreds dead. it was hit with waves up to 23 feet sweeping away homes, cars and people. the earthquake that hit was an

8.9 earthquake. it hit just over 11 hours. police found 200 to 300 bodies in a northeastern coastal city. hundreds more are missing, the magnitude 8.9 is the largest to hit in years. we are getting reports there's damage being reported in santa cruz with boats off of its moorings. the first waves hit crescent city. they're expect waves of about seven feet. since it is low tide, there's not a lot of damage expected and it looks like you can see people on a pier there as we pan back right now. i believe that's possibly -- san francisco, golden gate bridge. there are reports that these initial tsunami waves, the biggest could come in in about

an hour after the initial waves arrive. they have first arrived a little after 8:00. we're monitoring it with low tide. minimal damage is expected. there's road closures along the coast in various parts of the bay area. we're also learning that some bay area schools are closing down because of the tsunami warnings. we just checked in with the san mateo county officials. we're told schools in the ca bro yoap and pacifica. in marin county ba lena and stinson beach schools will remain closed. we're a couple minutes away from a news conference from the u.s. geological survey. scientists will be telling us the latest. we have a preview.

>> reporter: we are at the usgs in men lo park. this is one of the places where earthquakes are monitored and studied. we have the chief scientists. the first question i want to ask you is, earthquakes are earthquakes but very few are what we were have termed great earthquakes. is there any fundamental difference between them and i hate to say run of the mill earthquakes? >> a lot of the bay area residents will remember the 1989 one. the shaking for that lasted about 15 seconds. the strong shaking in this earthquake in japan lasted about four minutes. the energy released in this earthquake in japan was about 900 times more than the energy of the lomo.

>> reporter: is it still an earthquake or something greater happens that makes a greater magnitude. >> the area -- the size of the break between the japanese islands that causes the earthquake. it broke 150 miles from sendai to tokyo. the aftershocks -- large aftershocks are occurring as we speak under the coast. they are magnitude 6 1/2, 7 after year shocks, so a big earthquake all along. >> you can see the wiggles here back and forth from the japanese earthquake. you can see the wiggles. you can see each time the barrel goes around it's a half around. the barrel has gone around

several times and we're still getting strong shaking recordings in california. this, again, is another measure of how long the shaking lasted. the longer the shaking lasts, the more damage you're going to get because the buildings can't withstand shaking forever. >> reporter: i know when an earthquake fault breaks it relieves stress but does it in other close vaults creating more stress, what i've called sympathetic faulting where another one will go because the scenario has changed so much. >> yes, there can be. there was a magnitude 7.2 preshock or foreshock of this earthquake about two days ago in the same area. there's about a 5% chance of another big earthquake following this one that's the same